Many companies are facing the same predicament: operating in silos. Often, company departments work independently of one another and rarely interact. This method of work drastically limits the amount of information shared across teams.
In these scenarios, employees are often in the dark regarding their colleagues’ operations, projects, and day-to-day work. Over time, the feeling of unity across teams disappears, alongside the will to collaborate to achieve a global objective.
This compartmentalization of communication can lead to departments retaining critical information. It may also lead to a loss of efficiency by making systems in place unknowingly become redundant. These side effects ultimately complicate daily tasks, enhance feelings of frustration, and even create dissatisfaction at work.
1. Identify the cause of your organizational silos
To enhance internal communication, determine what may be causing your communication barriers. Some potential causes may include:
- An initial lack of cross-functional communication
- An overly vertical organization
- Long periods of telecommunication
To best identify the root causes, conduct an audit and create focus groups with employees representing all facets of the company. In doing so, you will also learn the extent of the problem and its effects on employees’ daily routines.
To provide your employees with the opportunity to express their thoughts while also taking the time to answer them, consider organizing several discussion sessions with the different teams to gather relevant information.
2. Integrate internal communication into the company’s strategy
Once you have identified the causes, the next step is to determine an action plan with the various stakeholders.
It’s crucial to remember that this can be a slow process due to the drastic shift that needs to occur: to be successful, the whole internal culture needs to evolve. Moreover, such an approach requires global scaling to be effective. Unless every single team is involved, the previous and ineffective methods of operations will not go away. Breaking down organizational silos should be a top priority, part of the company’s strategy, and measurable.
3. Involve managers at all levels to break down communication barriers
It is essential to involve managers in the implementation process of the action plan. Then, they can understand the need to break down silos and lead by example.
This collaboration allows managers to identify situations in their teams where internal communication across departments is applicable. Regularly discussing this topic during team meetings also helps to change these work habits over time.
The best method to achieve your internal communication goals is direct interaction with Live streaming. With Momindum Cloud, you can interact directly with your employees, thanks to the question wall, an intuitive and easy-to-use interface through which your listeners can speak freely.
By utilizing this tool, you can answer any questions asked by your listeners before and during your live event. This asset is beneficial because it allows members of your organization to express themselves and clarify questions or concerns they may have.
You can guarantee your live broadcast will be engaging and help you address all employee’s concerns.
To guarantee your employees have multiple opportunities to provide feedback, consider organizing regular live sessions among different teams to gather different perspectives from everyone in your organization.
4. Rely on internal communication to address the company’s goals and vision
To eliminate ineffective communication in your organization, employees must understand the importance of the goal they are working towards alongside their colleagues. This is where internal communication comes in.
One of the primary goals at this stage should be to ensure that employees have a clear understanding of the vision and goals of their company.
Some tips to achieve this goal include:
- Publish video content on WebTV, such as replays of meetings run by Top Management (on current market challenges, medium-term strategy, etc.)
- Create routine videos from management, presenting short-term objectives and covering major projects thanks to live streaming
- Give credit to employees who have participated in those projects
5. Regularly illustrate the different elements of the company
Within large organizations, it has traditionally been difficult for all teams to know the activities and professions that coexist internally. This hurdle enhances the adverse systems in place that create limited communication.
Internal communication can help employees stay up to date with their colleague’s projects. Some tips include:
- Publish articles highlighting the different projects, departments, and accomplishments
- Create employee profiles with a portrait, job title, and brief description
- Offer “Live my life” days that allow employees to learn about daily operations in other departments and how those employees play a crucial role in the company’s overall operations
Once again, this is where video comes into play to enhance information sharing and internal communication.
Rather than a traditional employee overview, encourage teams to create a video CV that can integrate into your intranet. This concept offers two immediate advantages, the first being the employee’s involvement in the company. By introducing themselves through video and describing their various tasks within the company, their colleagues can not only understand the components of their role but their personalities. Additionally, it pushes employees to visit your intranet and encourages them to stay up to date on the latest news within the company.
And let me reassure you, that you don’t need technical skills to edit and enrich your videos. Momindum Maker is user-friendly, effective, and will enhance your video content.
6. Facilitate meetings between employees from different branches
The act of decompartmentalization within your company is also relevant to human relationships: communication with your colleagues is easier when you know them. This aspect is even more crucial in today’s world, where telecommuting is becoming more common.
The following are tasks internal communicators and HR can implement to meet these goals:
- Organize cross-functional events, bringing together all departments in the company. Regular gatherings will make it easy for employees to build relationships
- Offer team-building sessions to promote a positive work environment
- Set up a mentoring strategy for new employees, recently promoted employees and any employees in need of additional support
- Ensure that internal training sessions include a combination of employees from different backgrounds
Encourage positive moments between employees during and after work hours. These informal interactions will also help employees relate to one another and enhance compassion. These steps will make it easier for employees to adopt the new systems in place to improve internal communication in the company.
Want to learn more? Click here to contact an expert!